Those sneaky devils...

Earlier today, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the New York Yankees 19-6. Now, Tampa Bay is not exactly a formidable team this year… they’re in last place in the AL East, 20 games out of first place, with a 43-61 record. They’d have to win 18 games in a row just to break even. And yet they were able to chew up and spit out the Yankees, tossing them around like confetti, scoring so many runs you’d think they were playing a neighborhood little league team. And if this had been the first time I’d ever seen this happen, I’d just have to say, “well, ANY team can have a lucky game now and then…” Tampa Bay, however, seems to have quite a few “lucky games” against the Yankees. More than they SHOULD reasonably have…

And as I was thinking about it today, I figured something out – the Yankees, it would seem, are like a superhero conglomerate. And every superhero needs an anti-hero. Every superhero needs an arch nemesis. It would be easy, of course, to assume that the Boston Red Sox were the Yankees’ arch nemisis. After all, they’ve been rivals for decades, and Boston/New York games attract rowdy fans of both teams by the thousands. In contrast, Tampa Bay games tend to attract, well, Yankee fans. Even in Florida…

So sure, the Red Sox and the Yankees have a rivalry, but they’re usually a pretty evenly-matched rivalry. And as everyone knows, a superhero’s arch nemesis never begins as an evenly-matched enemy. It’s usually someone who doesn’t even realize the evil powers within their possession until the superhero awakens them. Like Spiderman – I mean, I’ve never read the comic books, but if I’m to understand the movies, Spiderman’s enemies have all started out as friends. In fact, his BEST friend is his biggest enemy. His best friend, the person he’d least expect, is the one person determined to wipe him off the face of the earth.

And what about Superman? His downfall is a stupid little glowing green rock. This is the guy who is impervious to bullets, and can fly around the world in seconds, and can pick up freight trains with one hand. You could drop an entire REGULAR rock on his head, and he’d be just fine. But pelt him with a tiny fleck of kryptonite, and he’s toast. The big, bad, obvious things can’t touch him – it’s only the unassuming, and the ordinary, and the unexpected that can have a detrimental effect.

So it would make no sense for the Boston Red Sox to be the Yankees’ arch nemesis – they’re too obvious, and too strong, and too conspicuous. But the Tampa Bay Devil Rays are different – they’re like a quiet, conniving, crafty team that waits in the wings until the Yankees come to town. Until then, they’re just a little fleck of kryptonite, glowing in their green uniforms but completely harmless to most teams. And then they go and beat the Yankees 19 to 6.

But no matter – everyone knows the superhero always wins in the end.